Using Virtual Reality as Learning Tools on Chemistry: Advantages and Challenges

This research aims to elucidate the potential benefits and inherent challenges of employing Virtual Reality (VR) technology as an instructional tool in contemporary educational settings. With an emphasis on understanding teachers' perceptions, the study investigates the difficulties faced during traditional oral teaching and the potential advantages that VR-based pedagogy may bring to the educational environment. The participants of this empirical investigation included 20 educators (11 males and 9 females), who provided their insight on a set of 15 questions specifically designed and later analyzed via Rasch measurement. The Rasch model's assessment provided comprehensive insight into the teaching difficulties experienced by educators and the potential benefits accrued from the application of VR as a teaching aid. The findings indicate that the majority of educators face challenges while instructing through oral methodologies without appropriate pedagogical tools. Conversely, the integration of VR in teaching methods was found to foster students' knowledge acquisition, comprehension, and application in novel situations, augmenting their analytical and evaluative capabilities. VR application was also found to bolster student engagement, motivation, and attention in the learning process. However, despite these promising findings, several obstacles were identified, most notably the cost of VR technology and the requisite technical skills needed for its implementation by educators. The results of this study bear significant implications for future research, particularly as a teaching tool in chemistry. It also prompts a discussion on educators' capacity-building to seamlessly integrate VR technology into existing teaching methodologies

Le tecnologie immersive e l’esercizio delle competenze localizzative nella didattica della geografia

Il presente lavoro intende contribuire al dibattito sulla costruzione di un nuovo sapere geografico, partendo anche dalla sperimentazione di nuove metodologie e nuovi strumenti tecnologici per l’insegnamento. In particolare, vuole indagare come uno dei principi fondanti della pratica disciplinare, l’osservazione geografica, possa essere praticata con l’utilizzo delle tecnologie immersive quali la Realtà Virtuale (VR) e la Realtà Aumentata (AR). Nel dettaglio si indaga come queste tecnologie condizionino il processo di osservazione negli alunni delle scuole secondarie e come questi esercitino le loro competenze di tipo localizzativo in specifiche situazioni di apprendimento. La ricerca ha avuto quindi un duplice scopo: da un lato valutare come le competenze localizzative possano essere esercitate a scuola in ambienti di VR/AR, dall’altro misurare se l’utilizzo di questi ambienti migliori l’esperienza di apprendimento a scuola, almeno in termini qualitativi. Per fare questo si è osservata la prestazione di un campione di studenti in un contesto quasi-sperimentale nel quale hanno potuto utilizzare un ambiente di apprendimento immersivo appositamente progettato per l’esperienza. Il protocollo proposto ha consentito di monitorare come l’allievo riesca a utilizzare le informazioni geografiche per comprendere le variabili presenti in un determinato contesto e costruire autonomamente nuova conoscenza. Nella valutazione dell’esperienza di apprendimento sono stati coinvolti anche i docenti, che hanno fornito importanti dettagli sui temi dell’indagine. Il progetto di ricerca si è arricchito nel suo svolgimento di una serie di esperienze legate all’uso didattico degli ambienti di apprendimento immersivi anche in altri contesti formativi, fra i quali quello universitario. L’ampiezza delle esperienze svolte con gli studenti, il confronto con altri ricercatori nell’ambito di esperienze congressuali nazionali e internazionali , nonché lo studio preliminare della letteratura già esistente sulle tematiche affrontate, ha consentito di ottenere interessanti conclusioni. Prima fra tutte quella che l’elemento di interazione nella fruizione di contenuti immersivi consente un maggiore coinvolgimento, facilitando il processo di apprendimento sia in termini generali sia in relazione alle competenze geografiche indagate. In secondo luogo, che le tecnologie a medio grado di immersività si sono rivelate, per gli scopi di questo lavoro, le più adatte per perseguire gli scopi formativi legati alla disciplina. Infine, che gli aspetti organizzativi e di fruibilità condizionano nella concretezza la buona riuscita delle esperienze di apprendimento con strumenti immersivi nel contesto scolastico.This work intends to contribute to the debate on the construction of a new geographical knowledge, also starting from the experimentation of new methodologies and new technological tools for teaching. In particular, it wants to investigate how one of the founding principles of disciplinary practice, geographical observation, can be practiced with the use of immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). In detail, we investigate how these technologies condition the observation process in secondary school pupils and how they exercise their location-type skills in specific learning situations. The research therefore had a dual purpose: on the one hand, to evaluate how localization skills can be exercised at school in VR/AR environments, on the other, to measure whether the use of these environments improves the learning experience at school, at least in qualitative terms. To do this, the performance of a sample of students was observed in a quasi-experimental context in which they were able to use an immersive learning environment specially designed for the experience. The proposed protocol made it possible to monitor how the student is able to use geographical information to understand the variables present in a given context and independently build new knowledge. The teachers were also involved in the evaluation of the learning experience, who provided important details on the topics of the survey. The research project has been enriched in its development by a series of experiences related to the didactic use of immersive learning environments also in other training contexts, including the university one. The breadth of the experiences carried out with the students, the comparison with other researchers in the context of national and international congress experiences, as well as the preliminary study of the already existing literature on the topics addressed, made it possible to obtain interesting conclusions. First of all that the element of interaction in the use of immersive content allows for greater involvement, facilitating the learning process both in general terms and in relation to the geographical skills investigated. Secondly, for the purposes of this work, technologies with a medium degree of immersion have proved to be the most suitable for pursuing the educational purposes related to the discipline. Finally, that the organizational and usability aspects concretely condition the success of learning experiences with immersive tools in the school context